of the Council of Safety, 1776. 95

[Matthew Tilghman's Petition.]

To the Honourable the Council of Safety of Maryland: —
The petition of Matthew Tilghman humbly shews, That
immediately on rec^t of your order of the 13^th instant he
directed Tho^s Smith his overseer to move all the stock except
the Milch cattle from Choptank Island. That the said Smith,
tho in the midst of his harvest, did immediately move off about
seventy head of Cattle. That he then applied to your peti-
tioner for directions how to dispose of the said cattle &
remonstrated on the certain loss of most of the other kinds of
stock should they be moved off, on consideration whereof
your petitioner has ordered that all the sheep be got to the
north end of the Island next to the narrows and that they and
the hogs and the remaining part of the cattle kept on for the
subsistance of the people be immediately moved off on the
appearance of the Enemy. Your petitioner begs leave further
to represent, that the Communication from the Island to the
main land is very easy the narrows at the usual place of pass-
ing being not more than forty yards wide. That he has a
fence across a narrow pass on the s^d Island, erected for the
purpose, before your order came to hand, between two plan-
tations, by which means, upon any appearance of danger he
can have all the stock speedily moved to & retained on the
north end, from whence they may on the shortest notice be
immediately removed off. That the hogs are now in the
stubble fields, & must inevitably perish, or be lost, if carried
off: That there is no part of the Bay side between your Petr^s
House and his Island, a distance of about ten miles, but what
is equally exposed, and from whence, there is the same reason
to move the stock. The Island being so situated, as to be as
easily defended by the militia as any other part of the neigh-
bourhood, except the little difficulty in passing the narrows.
That if an armed boat was ordered to ply constantly between
Jame's Island and Kent point all Choptank, Miles, & Wye
Rivers, would in a great measure be protected, there would
then be no occasion for the removal of Stock, & this would
not be so expensive to the publick as payment for what would
undoubtedly be lost by removal. That your petitioners cattle
now moved off, being pent up in small inclosures, or kept at
the expence of Pasturage on grounds not abounding with food,
must either all perish soon, or be reduced to such a state of
poverty as will render it impossible to keep them alive the
next winter. Your petitioner therefore in consideration of the
certain loss which must attend the removal of his stock and the
consequent expence as he apprehends to the public humbly
prays that he may be permitted to order what is already

C. S. C.